April 10, 2012: Dr. Michael Rupen (National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM) has informed us that he and his colleagues of the EVLA (Expanded Very Large Array) Nova Team are carrying out a multiwavelength campaign on the Fe II-type nova Nova Oph 2012. They have triggered observations with Swift, JVLA (Jansky Very Large Array), SMA (Submillimeter Array), and high-resolution optical spectroscopy. He is requesting AAVSO observations in support.

April 4, 2012: Bram Ochsendorf (Leiden Observatory, Netherlands) has requested monitoring by AAVSO observers of the R CrB variable V854 Cen in support of observations to be made using the XSHOOTER instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Paranal Observatory in Chile. Ochsendorf and colleagues have already observed V854 Cen at maximum and now need to observe it during a fading episode.

Its been more than a year and many "test versions" in the making, but a new and much improved version of VStar (Version 2.13) is now formally available. To read more about VStar and download a copy, please visit the VStar overview page and click the "Download VStar Now" button.

April 6, 2012 Update: The talk is over and went very well. We had a max of around 22 participants and the interaction with Bob was very informative. We attempted to record the talk using the built-in recording feature of the webinar software we are using (GoToWebinar by Citrix). It created a Windows Media Video (.wmv) file that plays correctly on a few Windows computers we tested on. However, when we tested it on OS X machines using a wide variety of video players we could never get it to fully work. We also attempted to upload it to YouTube and their software rejected the format as well. So we can't promise it will work on all computers. We are investigating alternatives for recording future webinars.

March 28, 2012: A possible nova in Ophiuchus was announced on the IAU CBAT Transient Objects Confirmation Page (TOCP) page with the name PNV J17260708-2551454. It was discovered by H. Nishimura (Shizuoka-ken, Japan) at unfiltered magnitude 12.1 on 2012 March 25.789 UT on three frames using Canon 200-mm f/3.2 lens + Canon EOS 5D Digital Camera. Spectra suggest that the object is an Fe II-type classical nova.

28 March 2012: A possible nova in Centaurus was announced on the IAU CBAT Transient Objects Confirmation Page (TOCP) page with the name PNV J13410800-5815470. It was discovered by John Seach (Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia) at magnitude 9.2 on 2012 March 23.386 UT using a DSLR with 50 mm f/1.0 lens. Spectra indicate that the object is a classical nova.

Nothing was seen by him down to magnitude 11.0 on his survey images taken on 2012 Mar. 16.396 UT.

March 27, 2012: In the email version of AAVSO Special Notice #270 (Possible Recurrent Nova in the LMC = TCP J04550000-7027150), the discovery magnitude was given as U=10.7. It should have been given as unfiltered magnitude 10.7.

March 27, 2012: A possible nova in the LMC discovered at unfiltered magnitude 10.7 on 2012 March 26.397 UT (name of discoverer not given) was reported on the IAU CBAT Transient Objects Confirmation Page (TOCP). Spectra indicate the object may be a recurrent nova.

J. Hambsch reports that as of March 28.04 UT, the object appears to be fading fast and is at least one magnitude fainter than 24 hours ago.

23 March 2012: The Chandra X-ray satellite observations of the symbiotic variable CH Cyg have been scheduled as part of Dr. Margarita Karovska's (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) campaign. Please see AAVSO Alert Notice 454 and AAVSO Special Notice #267 for complete details on this observing campaign. The HST observations of CH Cyg have already been made.

March 15, 2012: As announced in AAVSO Alert Notice 454 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notice-454), Dr. Margarita Karovska, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has requested multiband photometry (all possible bands), high-speed photometry, spectroscopy, and visual observations of the symbiotic variable CH Cyg in support of HST and Chandra observations. She is studying the central region of CH Cyg and its jet.

New data released from the AAVSO Photometric All Sky Survey (APASS) has allowed us to revise, repair and update many reported chart errors as well as create new sequences for variable star sequence requests and regions of the sky previously lacking reliable photometry. As a result, the following stars have new or revised sequences, and you should update your records accordingly.